You can kind of tell that these girls were pulling little sailboats in the Bächler…

A better view of the cathedral. Maybe you can see the coloring that betrays the war damage?

And this girl! We met at a Covenant Mass, a few days later bought John Mayer tickets together out of convenience more than anything else, six months later went to work at the Pines together, and in 5 months we’ll be roommates!

In front of the Spanish Steps! Note the awesome backpack

I chose sweaters of various colors, cuts, and knits to create the most flexibility during fall, winter, and spring. Totally foreign for this Texas girl!

THE KING

Io and I are pretentious

I couldn’t find a picture that accurately showed the amazing communities that support me on a daily basis, but this one of me, John, and Mike emphasizes how HAPPY my friends make me!

A reminder of His love for us on a hike in the Black Forest, Spring 2011

I already miss these girls!

Jesuitenkirche

The Blessed Mother, my LG’s Pilgrim MTA, and some Lourdes water from Daniel :)

I wish I had a better picture to substantiate my claim. Any Pennsylvanians want to weigh in?? The houses really do look strikingly similar!

This isn’t today, it’s from last week. The weather was really nice today… unlike last week.

Michael Noriega is a firework

The view FROM the Spanish Steps… I knew, I decided to shake it up a bit. Check out those beautiful flowers and the huge crowd! Love it

A night on the town in Perugia… craaayzay.

The cathedral in Freiburg was easily the biggest church I’ve ever seen… crazy.

Franziskanerkirche

My engineer father trying to figure out the purpose of the dam

The kneelers were PADDED. Take note, other churches of Europe.

Poland 2011. I’d had this colorful skirt for at least a year before I left for Europe, but I’d never worn it because it seemed too daring. But suddenly it matched all of my shirts and it was super easy to fit in a suitcase. Instant hit!

a castle…

The magical duffel was able to accommodate all of this plus some!

After Pope Benedict officially beatified JPII, they unveiled this portrait. There were Polish flags EVERYWHERE.

a huge face…

Procession after mass at St. Paul’s Basilica, my favorite of the churches we saw

I wrapped my belts around the small duffel (which is filled with underwear, socks, tights, and camisoles) to compress it and fit more clothes into the suitcase.

(a small interjection: USA USA USA! So excited for tomorrow’s game!!)

One completed bundle

In these images, Mary is surrounded by the apostles and Christ is generally seen in the heavens, accompanied by a child representing Mary’s soul.

Here’s a view from Marienplatz!

Der Schloss Meggenhorn

See it? :)

Come to think of it, this is kind of a winner of everyone. Kyle, if you happen to read this, please accept my heartfelt apologies.

Dancing bears, painted wings, things I almost remember…

Bundle 2

Got ’em!

Mid-bundling process

Probably hard to see because of the lighting… sorry. Aren’t the different architecture styles interesting? The middle building is part of the Schloss (castle) and the Catholic Church is on the right.

Token Brandenburg Gate shot in Berlin. Yay Germany!!!

I was convinced that this was the Pantheon, but that is completely and totally incorrect. How embarrassing, hopefully Plan II will take me back in August

The scarves, when folded into squares the size of the bundles, didn’t add much bulk to the stack

Me and Io: so pretentious, so Plan II

In this picture, I’m not actually throwing a coin… I used up the coin for the first picture, which didn’t come out very well. And no way was I throwing away another .01 Euros!

You may know me, Mike, and John as the smash hit indie folk band 3 Birds & Bangs. Be on the lookout for our forthcoming album.